Railway brake rigging



Dec. 16, 1941. P. L MBER 2,266,304

RAILWAY BRAKE R IGGING Original Filed June 12, 1939 .96 42 (A. I /08 V 11| $4 ,8 In 7% x59 0 7 m9 T Q t .L Gtfomegs Patented Dec. 16, 1941RAILWAY BRAKE EIGGING Martin P. Elomberg, Hinsda-lefI-lL, assignor toGeneral Motors (lorporatiom- Detroit,MiclL, a corporation of Delaware I1 Original application June 12., 1939; Serial No.

' 278,719. Divided and this. application .May'29,

1941, erialNo. 395,842 I r v 7 Claims. (61. 188-56.)

This application is a division of my copending application, Serial No.278,719, filed June 12, 1939, Patent No. 2,246,340, June 17, 1941.

This invention relates to improvements in brake rigging for railwayvehicles, and has for its object the provision of such a constructionwhich will be simpler and lighter in weight than those which havepreceded it, and which therefore will be more economical to produce.

upper ,andlo'wer edges of the tension rods to hold the bridging memberin proper relation to the rods. At its opposite end, the bridging memberhas spaced apart lugs 98 formed on it, and a boss I'M] formed integralwith -or secured to the lower end of the live truck lever 28 is receivedin the space between the lugs 98. 'It will be seen from Fig. 2thatisince the outer faces of the lugsSd' "are closer together than are.the faces Another object of the invention is to devise of theprojections '94, the tension rods are offset the rigging so that it maybe easily taken apart at at E2 to permit them-to bear against the andput back together'again, whenever repairs lugs." The purpose of this isto allow the use of or replacement of parts is necessary, regardless asshort a bolt as possible to obtain clearance of how long it has been inservice. between it and adjacent parts, and to decrease Other objectsand advantages of the invention the weight since these bolts are quitelarge and will be apparent upon reference to the specificaare thereforerelatively heavy, and to lowerv the tion and accompanying drawing, inwhich: expense; since these bolts are specially machined Fig. 1 is aside view of a portion of a railway andi'their cost is in proportion totheir size. vehicle truck showing one of the wheels and my Ifconventional. practice has beenfollowed in improved brake riggingassociated therewith; designing this construction, the holes in the ten-Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken -on the line sion rods, the lugs andthe boss through which 2-2 of Fig.1, showing the parts on asomewhat thebolt 9| extends would have been made only larger scale; and slightlylarger in diameter than the .diameter ,of

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line the'bod-y portion of thebolt, in order that there 3-3 of Fig. 2. (might be as little play orlost motion between The reference numeral 10 indicates the frame theparts as possible. While sucha construction of a railway vehicle truck,in which the axle I2 is satisfactory when new, the brake rigging mustcarrying the wheels I4 is journalled in the usual be taken apartand,put'back together again sevmanner in journal boxes I6, and I8 is anequaleral times during its life, and it has been found izer bar, theends of which rest on top of the that after itiha's been in service fora time, the journal boxes. The brake arrangement shown bolts used tohold the tension rods in place beis of the well-known clasp type, andconsists of come so corroded that it is only with great diiiibrake shoes20 and 22 adapted .to be forced culty that they may be removed from theparts against 'the opposite sides of the wheel, the shoes they passthrough, it very frequently being necesbeing supported upon brake heads24 and 26. sary to drive them .out with a sledge hammer. The brake head24 is pivotally connected to a This is objectionable since it increasesgreatly live truck lever 28 at 3B, and is supported by a the labor costof disassembling the brake rigging, pair of hangers32 which arepivotally secured to andalso because quite often the ends of the boltsthe truck frame at 34., while the brake head 26 are so damaged by thehammering upon them is pivotally connected at 36 to a dead truck leverthat they cannot'be used again, and must be re- 38, which is pivotallysupported at 40 on the placed, and as pointed out above, being speciallytruck frame. The lower ends of the levers 28 'machinedtheyare quiteexpensive so this is a and 38 are connected together by a pair'oftenserious objection. sion rods 42 and 44 which extend on OppositeTherefore, instead of having the bolt 9| fit sides of the wheel, thelever 33 being connected 45 directly into the parts it. passes through,I form to the rods by a bolt 66 and the associated slack larger holes inthe tension rods, the lugs 98 and adjusting structure disclosed in mypending apthe boss I09, and provide a sleeve I04 which plica'tionreferred to above. 7 extends through these holes and terminates sub- Thelever 28 is connected to the tension rods stantially flush with theouter faces of the tenby the structure illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3,.sion rods at the point where the bolt 9| passes wherein the ends of thetension rods are held through the rods. The diameter of the holes.inproper spaced relation to each other by means in the lugs 98 is madesubstantially the same of a bridging member 89 and a bolt 9| and nut asthe outside diameter of the sleeve, so that the 92, the latter beingthreaded onto the bolt. latter is a light press fit in the lugs. Abushing At the end adjacent the wheel l4, the bridging I06 pressed intothe boss I90 has its inside dimember is made relatively wide by havingproameter slightly larger than the outer diameter jections 94 formed onit, against which proof the sleeve so that the lever 28 may be freejections the tension rods bear, there being flanges to rotate withrespect to the sleeve, while bush- 96 formed on the top and bottomportions of ings I08 pressed into the holes in the rods 42 theprojections, which flanges extend over the and 44 have their insidediameters enough larger than the outer diameter of the sleeve to permiteasy assembly upon or removal from the latter. The diameter of the holein the sleeve is enough larger than the diameter of the body portion ofthe bolt to insure that there will be a substantial clearance I69between the bolt and the sleeve at all times to permit easy removal ofthe bolt from Within the sleeve. In other words, the clearance is suchthat even if the bolt should become badly corroded, it still could bedriven out of the hole in the sleeve without requiring any heavyhammering upon it which might damage it. A washer H0 is placed betweenthe head of the bolt and the rod 44, while another washer H2 is placedbetween the nut 92 and the rod 42. When the nut is tightened, thewashers are drawn against the faces of the rods 42 and 44 thereby firmlyholding the bolt in position in the sleeve so that there can be relativemovement between the two in spite of the substantial clearanc betweenthem, and since the tension rods, the lugs 98 or the boss I00 cannotmove relative to the sleeve because of the small clearance between themand the sleeve, there can be no play or lost motion between any of theparts, and therefore no vibration or rattling noises can develop at thispoint, while at the same time the parts may be easily disassembledregardless of how long they have been in service.

While I have shown and described a specific embodiment of my invention,it will be understood that various changes in the details of thestructure may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of theappended claims.

I claim:

1. In a brake rigging, the combination of a pair of tension rods, abridging member located between the rods at one end thereof and adaptedto hold them in spaced relation to each other, a sleeve passing throughaligned holes formed in the bridging member and in the tension rods, abrake lever journalled on the outside of the sleeve, and means extendingthrough the sleeve and adapted to hold the assembly together.

2. In a brake rigging, the combination of a pair of tension rods, abridging member located between the rods at one end thereof and spacingthem apart, a cylindrical sleeve extending through aligned holes formedin the bridging member and in the ends of the tension rods, a brakelever having a portion thereof rotatably mounted on the outside of thesleeve, a bolt extending through the inside of the sleeve, and a nut inthreaded engagement with the end of the bolt, said bolt and nut beingadapted to hold the structure in assembled relation to each other.

3. In a brake rigging, the combination of a pair of tension rods, abridging member located between the rods at one end thereof and spacingthem apart, said member having a pair of spaced apart lugs formedthereon, a sleeve extending through aligned holes formed in the lugs andin the ends of the tension rods, a brake lever having a pcrtion thereoflocated in the space between the lugs, said portion being rotatablymounted on the outside of the sleeve, and means extending through thesleeve and adapted to hold the assembly together.

4. In a brake rigging, the combination of a pair of tension rods, abridging member located between the rods adjacent one end thereof andholding them inspaced relation to each other, said side of the sleeve,and a nut in threaded engagement with the end of the bolt, said bolt andnut being adapted to hold the structure in assembled condition.

5. In a brake rigging, the combination of a pair of tension rods, abridging member located between the rods adjacent one end thereof andserving to hold them in spaced relation to each other, a sleeveextending through aligned holes formed in the bridging member and in theends of the tension rods, a brake lever journalled on the outside of thesleeve, and means extending through the sleeve and adapted to hold theassembly together, said means being substantially smaller in externaldiameter than the inside diameter of the sleeve so that it may be easilyremoved to permit disassembly of the parts.

6. In a brake rigging, the combination of a pair of tension rods, a,bridging member located between the rods adjacent one end thereof andserving to hold them in spaced relation to each other, a sleeveextending through aligned holes formed in the bridging member and in theends of the tension rods, a brake lever having a portion thereofrotatably mounted on the outside of the sleeve, a bolt extending throughthe inside of the sleeve, the external diameter of the body portion ofthe bolt being enough smaller than the internal diameter of the sleeveto permit the bolt to be easily removed from within or inserted into thesleeve under all conditions, and a nut in threaded engagement with theend of the bolt, said nut when tightened being adapted to hold thestructure in assembled relation and to prevent movement of the boltrelative to the sleeve.

'7. In a brake rigging, the combination of a pair of tension rods, abridging member located between the rods adjacent one end thereof andserving to hold them in spaced relation to each other, said memberhaving a pair of spaced apart lugs formed thereon, a cylindrical sleeveextending through holes formed in said lugs and in the ends of thetension rods, a brake lever having a boss secured to the lower endthereof, said boss being located in the space between the lugs and beingrotatably mounted on the outside of the sleeve, a bolt extending throughthe inside of the sleeve, the external diameter of the body portion ofthe bolt being enough smaller than the internal diameter of the sleeveto insurethat there will be a substantial clearance between the twounder all conditions, a nut in threaded engagement with the end of thebolt, a washer located between the head of the bolt and the adjacenttension rod, and a second washer located between the nut and the othertension rod, said washers being larger in diameter than the diameter ofthe sleeve so that when the nut is tightened, the washers will be drawnagainst the outer faces of the tension rods to hold the latter againstthe bridging member and to prevent movement of the bolt inside thesleeve.

MARTIN P. BLOMBERG.

